February in Fairbanks

Feb 23
I had every intention of spending the weekend inside, I really did.  I find that after getting a little frost nip on my fingers, every tiny bit of chill returns that painful feeling to them.  Sometimes it takes days to remove the chilly from my fingers.  After a couple hours of being parked next to the Monitor heater in Brittany and Oliver’s cabin, they were able to coax me outside.  They told me of Troth Yeddha' Snow Shoe for the Park, a short running club snowshoe race and treasure hunt.  For a mere five dollars, we were able to borrow snowshoes and dig in the snow for great prizes.  Okay, I’m sold.  Let’s go.

This time of year, everyone comes out of hibernation.  Gone are the short days, each week yields nearly one additional hour of daylight than the previous one.  The sun holds heat.  The temperature is on the upswing.  Even though we didn’t endure the cold winter as everyone else, the feeling is noticeable and we share in the excitement.  Today, the high was -15F and the sun shone brightly in the sky.  That is reason enough to be happy after the chilly week we had in the Whites.

The snowshoe race wasn’t much of a race at all, more like a half mile slog through knee deep snow.  Matt and Oliver dashed off ahead, taking turns breaking trail.  I quickly caught up to them and they demanded I take my turn too.  I quickly red lined my effort level and nearly fell over twice.  The snow was almost hip deep on me, even though I was wearing snowshoes.  A man with large traditional snowshoes was quickly gaining on us and our small MSR mountaineering snowshoes.  Matt and Oliver sprinted to the finish, arms and legs flailing about.  I came across the orange finish line painted in the snow, gasping for breath.  “Man, that was harder than I thought it would be,” I smiled behind my face mask.  Then it was time for the treasure hunt.   The four of us were able to grab two prizes apiece.  I came up with a sweatshirt and a pair of nice ski gloves.  I later traded the too small gloves to Brittany for a $20 Subway gift card.  Pretty good haul for my $5 entry fee. 

Matt and I went on a quick three mile run around the UAF campus on the way to the shower.  (Brittany and Oliver live in a dry cabin but get free showers as students)  This shower was amazing.  Even though I got a couple quick wipe down showers in the cabin, nothing is as good as the real thing. 

We grabbed lunch at Lulu’s and then headed back to the cabin to bake cookies and hang out for the afternoon.  We also went for a short walk near the cabin.  It was a little chilly for how I was dressed, but I didn’t complain at all after Brittany’s boot dropped through a soft spot of overflow and she was submerged into knee deep icy water.

That evening, we checked out the Festival of Native Arts at UAF.  People from villages and cities far away came to share music from their individual groups and to share collectively. 

I enjoyed how people of all ages participated and some of the traditional dress.